I have a 03 Duramax 4x4 and blue smoke comes out of the tailpipe at idle or low speed. It's not burning oil, but does seem to be loosing coolant? It runs good other than the blue smoke. No loss in milage or power, headgasket? Any help is greatly appriecated.

Generally the thumb rule is that: white smoke is usually caused by coolant water (or antifreeze) entering the combustion chamber; blue smoke is essentially due to oil (lubricants) getting in to the cylinder; and black smoke is generally because there is too much fuel (Diesel / Petrol) being inducted / injected in to the engine. And grey smoke would be due to a mixture of water and (excess) fuel entering in to the combustion chamber.

Does it blow blue smoke when it is running at temp. or when it is cold?

This place has all the writeups on everything Duramax. I turn there everythime I have questions about my 04. There are knowledgable people here too and there duramax techs and modifiers on there.http://www.dieselplace.com/forum/index.php

Start with a good fuel additive, like Amsoil or Stanadyne.
.02c

If it's just a little bit, I wouldn't worry about it. My dad has an '03 duramax with 110,000 miles that also does exactly as you describe. I've sent oil samples to blackstone and they always comment on how good of condition the engine is in. I've had the dealer check the injector balance rates (to see if any of them are slowly failing) and they all come back fine. I really don't go for the fuel treatment stuff - these trucks were designed to run on diesel fuel alone for hundreds of thousands of miles. If Isuzu wanted you to put additives in their engine, it would be in the owners manual - just my opinion!!! :)

Keep in mind that the '01-'03 dmax motors are known to have injector failure, and one indication of that happening is EXCESSIVE blue smoke. If you're at all concerned, go to your dealer for them to check the balance rates of the injectors. It's a simple quick test - done through the computer, they'll likely do it for free. It measures the output of the injectors - so you can see if one of the 8 is over or under performing. Not sure if you know this, but gm extended the warranty on the injectors in these engines to 200,000 miles or 7 years from the in service date of the truck - and yes, that warranty is transferred on from owner to owner. Definitely check out www.dieselplace.com for more info. LOTS of good info and people over there.

Like I said though, what you describe seems to be normal.

Mike

My 04 has a little smoke while warming up and I lose coolant. My dealer said that it was the egr solenoid. I am going to replace it and they said that should stop the coolant loss. Something about it leaking past the solenoid into the exhaust or something like that.

Could be an injector(s) failing on you.

(8 months ago) My 03' Duramax did the same thing, then it became hard to start. Dealer said it was the fuel filter. that fixed the problem for about 4 hours and the blue/white smoke started up again and the truck wouldn't start for sh!t.

After waiting a day (to get the damn thing started) I took it back to the dealer and parked it blocking the driveway into the shop and waited for them to open. Left them the keys and got a call later on saying it was the injectors and they fixed it under the power train warranty. Truck has run like a top since.

The injector seals were cooked, fuel was leaking past them and into the cylinder and flooding the motor. www.dieselplace.com was where I found most of the infrmation and there is another Duramax specific website www.gm-diesel.com. Tons of info at both!

Thanks for all of the responses. It does it warm or cold. Did any of you guys with injector probs have any power loss? Another thing there is a definant oddor that isn't like any Diesel I have been around. I will go and have the injector test done and see if that helps. Thanks again, I will post up the results!

Well I went to the dealer and had them put ol' smokey on the computer. It was the injectors but come to find out that the new warranty only covers if the injectors are leaking diesel out of the fuel rail and into the crankcase. My truck is leaking out of the tip of the injector into the com. chamber. All in all they said they would be happy to fix it for $5000! It would be $3200 just in parts. Anyone have a GM hookup? Id be happy to trade some concrete work.

Wow, ironic. I think I saw you this morning in Chico. I was thinking damn, that thing smokes all to hell. Smelt oily:(

Just find a good fuel shop in your area. They can pop test them and see which ones are needing replaced or repaired at this time. I work in a John Deere fuel shop and usually if an injector fails it is either a stuck needle or a bad tip. If it is just the tips leaking past it is a pretty easy fix and I don't think it would be near $3200 in parts. Who makes the injectors? If it is Denso or Stanadyne the prices shouldn't be to bad at all if they are delphi they will be a little pricier.

go to a different stealer.there trying to screw you.just went through this with one of the 03 at work.would smoke so bad i couldn't see behind me in the rear view.got a stealer to replace the injectors and it it runs like it did when new.there is also a glow plug recal on the lb7 so if you have a glow plug go bad they replace it for free.x2 on diesel place the guys on there know there dmax's

Yeah, if it was a charcoal grey single cab,that was probably me on my way to the dealer. Anyone from chico know of a fuel shop that is reliable? Anyone have any luck with Extreme Diesel?
Oh by the way, turns out I've got a rat in my engine compartment and is chewing up everything. Put some glue traps in there, we'll see what happens overnight.

OK guys i am one of those lucky guys that works at a GMC dealer, AKA Stealer like some of you like to call us. The reason the price is so steap on the parts is they are replacing all 8 injectors because the job sucks to do. its not like changing injectors on your Gas v8. They are all under the valve covers and are just a whore to get out. takes anywhere from 8-10 hours to do usually, so your 5000 price tag is a little steap but it wasnt that far off, plus i dont know what they get an hour out in Ca.

Second dont put any fuel additives in your Dmax ever, it will actually cause the injectors to go bad, also cause the fuel level gauge to go bad as well.

All the injectors are covered for 200k or 10 years if they have High return rates nothing else basically they are leaking into the crankcase. If you have a misfire or leaking injector you get the standard diesel warrnt. You can have the dealer replace just the bad injectors but the labor is goin to suck and you mite have to have it done to the other ones in a month. Thats why we sell 8 at once, saves money in the long run on labor. The glow plug warrnt was also raised to 200k/10years but only for trucks will cali emmisions.
this can also turn into a nightmare because if they break off in the head or the tip of the glow plug has burned off the heads need to come off the truck. the only way to do this easily is to pull the cab and leave the motor on the frame. fun job trust me did this on a 06 truck my dealer picked up at the auction.

Last but not least, on some trucks the combustion gasses are actually scorring the heads around the injector sleave seals causing coolant to leak into the cylinder, aka white smoke. just had this and my shop forman had to pull all the sleave and find the bad ones.

Other then the stuff with the injectors on the older trucks these engines run great with little problems. so hope that helped a little.

A lot of this sounds like my buddy's '03 that I am currently driving while mine is in the shop. First a couple months back he lost all his oil pressure at idle and was real low at cruising speeds. He took it in but our local dealership isn't that great and couldn't figure it out. They thought it may be the injectors leaking because the oil seemed a little thin also. They changed his oil and told him to drive it a little while and bring it back in and they would check it out again, now I have it for a little while. I checked the oil the other day and with only 1500 miles on the new oil it was over full, kinda thin and smelled like diesel, also the oil life % on the dash was down to like 8% already. I changed the oil and the pressure came back a little better. My truck will be ready early next week so when I go back into town to take this truck back I will let him know about all this info u guys have posted and he can go from there. What do u guys make of the oil pressure? Even after I changed the oil it was still only around 20-30 pounds at idle after it warmed up, is this normal? It also has the smoke haze at idle u guys were talking about.

http://www.competitiondiesel.com/forums/forumdisplay.php?f=33

You would be foolish to spend that kind of money without becoming a member of this site, and posting your problem there.. I dont claim to know anything about the Dmax. But I am a huge cummins diesel nut.. Competition diesel is like pirate to the 4x4 world..

A lot of this sounds like my buddy's '03 that I am currently driving while mine is in the shop. First a couple months back he lost all his oil pressure at idle and was real low at cruising speeds. He took it in but our local dealership isn't that great and couldn't figure it out. They thought it may be the injectors leaking because the oil seemed a little thin also. They changed his oil and told him to drive it a little while and bring it back in and they would check it out again, now I have it for a little while. I checked the oil the other day and with only 1500 miles on the new oil it was over full, kinda thin and smelled like diesel, also the oil life % on the dash was down to like 8% already. I changed the oil and the pressure came back a little better. My truck will be ready early next week so when I go back into town to take this truck back I will let him know about all this info u guys have posted and he can go from there. What do u guys make of the oil pressure? Even after I changed the oil it was still only around 20-30 pounds at idle after it warmed up, is this normal? It also has the smoke haze at idle u guys were talking about.


First off get the truck to the dealership and get the injectors changed they are covered under the warrentry ext. for 200k and 10years. you are haveing the exact problem they are warrnt. for. Second the reason your oil preasure is low is because the oil is really thin you need to change the oil like three times in a month after the injectors are changed to get all the diesel out of the engine. if the dealership you are bringin it to isnt the greatest drive to another one with a good diesel tech, the drive will be worth it.

A lot of this sounds like my buddy's '03 that I am currently driving while mine is in the shop. First a couple months back he lost all his oil pressure at idle and was real low at cruising speeds. He took it in but our local dealership isn't that great and couldn't figure it out. They thought it may be the injectors leaking because the oil seemed a little thin also. They changed his oil and told him to drive it a little while and bring it back in and they would check it out again, now I have it for a little while. I checked the oil the other day and with only 1500 miles on the new oil it was over full, kinda thin and smelled like diesel, also the oil life % on the dash was down to like 8% already. I changed the oil and the pressure came back a little better. My truck will be ready early next week so when I go back into town to take this truck back I will let him know about all this info u guys have posted and he can go from there. What do u guys make of the oil pressure? Even after I changed the oil it was still only around 20-30 pounds at idle after it warmed up, is this normal? It also has the smoke haze at idle u guys were talking about.

the oil pressure you talk about is one of the common traits of the injectors. the tips of the injectors corrode inside the valve covers and leak fuel into your oil, cousing low oil pressure and overfull oil level. I work at a GM garage and i am the deisel tech, seen it alot. and as mentioned before, the injectors are $400 a peice and they are a motherfucker to replace on those year trucks. so my advice to anyone is to get all 8 done and get it done while under warranty because it is very expensive, just do bring it to the shop i work at:flipoff2:

Thanks, I should be able to get it in to the shop by tuesday maybe

hmmm well now that I have my thread back j/k... Is there any way to get aftermarket injectors for a lower price? There is no way I can afford $3200 just for the injectors? That's not including gaskets, seals, fluids...!

Seems like if it is not so much the whole injector causing the issue and more so the tip or nozzle, that would be a way less costly route. I know on the cummins u can usually get a set of nozzles for around $900 plus your core and that just opens the door for a little step up in size also. Maybe worth checking into on some of the diesel forums.